Cape et poignard

Gary Cooper (Professor Jesper) is a nuclear scientist who is sent on an espionage assignment into Switzerland to discover and report back what progress the Nazis have made in developing an atomic bomb. It's World War II and the race is on to blow each other up. He is told that respected scientist Helen Thimig (Katarin Lodor) is to be his point of contact but his assignment turns into a rescue mission on meeting her. When this fails, he switches his focus to Italy where he links up with the Italian Underground movement in order to rescue Vladimir Sokoloff (Polda), another super-brain scientist.

The film reminded me of a James Bond style spy story. The cast are all OK and there are plenty of sequences that propel the plot forwards, although the film loses it's pace a bit with the romantic section between Cooper and Resistance fighter Lilli Palmer (Gina), which slows things down for about 20 minutes.

As regards the plot, I'm not sure it makes sense. Jesper is sent to find out information and report back, but he ends up in the front-line as a spy with a gun who has to fight and defend himself and is involved in a kidnapping plot. Totally unreal but it really doesn't matter. It's an enjoyable film with a collection of memorable sequences, eg, the French Resistance at the beginning, the scene when Cooper confronts undercover Gestapo agent Marjorie Hoshelle (Ann Dawson), the Italian Resistance and the episode in the truck, and the fight scene between Cooper and Marc Lawrence (Luigi).

This is old-school filmmaking by a master of directing; Fritz Lang, creator of M and many other fine films. Cloak and Dagger was made shortly after WW2, so it has that real WW2 feeling that only films from the 40s have. The two major stars, Gary Cooper and Lili Palmer have a wonderful chemistry that works, as well as all of the supporting actors. The production values are first-rate; Lang would make sure of that. The storyline is interesting; spies for the A-Bomb during the war. Recommended for good WW2 atmosphere.

This is the fourth and last of Fritz Lang's American espionage films and it is certainly a strange one. Written by Albert Maltz and Ring Lardner Jr. who were later blacklisted for their Communist sympathies, the film's anti-atomic sentiments have been expunged by the studio. As expected from Expressionist Lang the film looks wonderful but despite some thrilling moments it is on the whole uneven.

Inspired by the exploits of OSS operative Michael Burke this has Gary Cooper as a mild-mannered nuclear physicist who is attempting to smuggle a fellow physicist out of occupied Italy. He is aided in this by Italian partisans, one of whom is played by Lilli Palmer. Naturally, a romance blossoms.......

The character of Professor Jesper is surely one of the dullest heroes in film history which makes the casting of Gary Cooper a masterstroke. He carries it off wonderfully with his customary ease and we are with him all the way. He is especially sympathetic in his scenes with the marvellous Helene Thimig and Vladimir Sokolov and utilises the old charm with the double agent of Warner's contract player Marjorie Hoshell who is straight out of a film noir. His scenes with the Gina of Lilli Palmer just about work. There is certainly an emotional chemistry between them but alas not a physical one. As for Miss Palmer this is her first Hollywood film and proved to be a baptism by fire. Not only is her role as a traumatised bordering on paranoid resistance fighter extremely demanding, she was given a hard time by the director. Lang was known to be a bully and like all bullies picked on those least able to fight back. At one stage the entire crew walked out in protest at his treatment of her. When filming ended he told her; "I'll look after you in the cutting room." To his credit he did and she comes out very well. Needless to say Herr Lang was respectful towards Mr. Cooper!

The scene that lingers longest and the one directed by the sadistic Lang with true relish is the fight between Cooper and the Italian fascist agent of Marc Lawrence. Their gruesome and vicious struggle is played out to the sound of an Italian street singer while the child's toy ball bouncing down the stairs to the feet of the corpse is very effective and evidently a nod to his masterpiece 'M'.

Lang never concealed his loathing of meddling Hollywood producers and here once again his original ending in which the Germans appear to have the atomic bomb, has been cut. The horrors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were of course all too recent and it is one of Life's supreme ironies that ex-Nazi scientists were assisting America in its nuclear programme.

Despite its weaknesses this is still extremely watchable thanks to its charismatic cast, Lang's mastery of light and shade and of course the sine qua non of a Warner's film, Max Steiner's score.

While this is probably the first Fritz Lang film I wasn't overwhelmingly impressed with (well, maybe Siegfried, too), it does have a couple of things that make it really worth watching. Cooper's fury as a scientist early on in the movie railing against the amount of money the government pays for the development of killing machines, as opposed to curing diseases and making the world a better place, is beautiful and gave me chills. It's an incredibly powerful expression of grief and outrage in the wake of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (this movie came out only a year after the end of the war). Also, there's an INCREDIBLE fight scene late in the movie, in which Cooper's character (who's really a professor, and just an ordinary man, not a hardened fighter) struggles with an Italian spy. I don't think Lang is known for his fight scenes, but this one is a masterpiece. There's no Jackie Chan flying over tables, swinging on chandeliers, or kicking people through walls; instead, you have an ordinary man struggling with a somewhat superior opponent, in a very realistic, very brutal fight scene. A lot of small, practical self-defense moves I remember my dad teaching me when I was young are employed in this fight, including stomping on someone's instep and a couple of simple arm grapples. The action is extremely believable and practical, and the combat is savage, between two men fighting desperately for their lives. No one watches Fritz Lang movies for the fight scenes, but this one's really one of the highlights of this otherwise "eh" film--it's extremely well-done, and very surprising for a 1940s movie.

Toward the end of World War II, the allied secret service receives a partial message indicating that the Germans are researching nuclear energy to build atomic bombs. In Midwestern University, the scientist Alvah Jesper (Gary Cooper) is called up by the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) to meet his former colleague Dr. Katerin Lodor (Helen Thimig) in Switzerland and bring her to North America. However, his mission fails and Dr. Lodor is killed by the Nazis but first she informs that Alvah's acquaintance Dr. Giovanni Polda (Vladimir Sokoloff) is working for the Nazis in Italy. Dr. Jesper travels to Italy and with the support of the Italian partisans leaded by Pinkie (Robert Alda) and Gina (Lilli Palmer), he has a meeting with Dr. Polda that is under the surveillance of the Gestapo. The scientist tells him that his daughter Maria had been abducted by the Gestapo and Alvah makes a deal with Dr. Polda, promising to release Maria first and bringing them to North America. While Pinkie travels to rescue Maria, Alvah stays with Gina and they fall in love for each other.

"Cloak and Dagger" is a suspenseful and full of action romance in times of war. The enjoyable story has good moments of tension but it is only a reasonable work of Fritz Lang. Gary Cooper's character seems to be a skilled and well-trained agent and not a scientist in many moments and Lili Palmer performs a strong female character in one of her first works. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "O Grande Segredo" ("The Great Secret")